Golden Checkerboard (1965) is a book by Ed Ainsworth. Its subject matter concerns the mid-20th century economic conditions of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of Palm Springs, California and the history of the 99-year lease law, which enabled them to commercially develop tribal-owned lands. It focuses on Indio Superior Court Judge Hilton McCabe, who is described as "The Little White Father of the Indians of Palm Springs", and recalls the steps taken by McCabe to set up conservatorships and leases that would give the tribe investment opportunities and economic self-sufficiency. The title of the book refers to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians' reservation checkerboard pattern, originating from land grants to the Southern Pacific Railroad as an incentive to build rail lines through the region, when President Ulysses S. Grant signed an Executive Order granting "San Bernardino Base and Meridian, Township 4 South, Range 4 East, Section 14" to the Agua Caliente Indians. Historical context Section 14, which included the warm springs at the center of Palm Springs, and other sections surrounding Palm Springs, were "owned" by the Indians, but held "in trust" by the federal government; the Indians charged fees for bathing in the springs and picnicking in the canyon. In 1917, Congress passed the Allotment Act (39 Stat. 969, 976) which directed the Secretary of the Interior to divide and distribute the Indian land; Harry E. Wadsworth was appointed as the allotting agent. In 1927, the Secretary instructed Wadsworth to make a new schedule of allotments, which he did for the 24 members of the Band who made written applications. (In fact the allotments were not carried out; Band member Lee Arenas sued the federal government to have the allotments made legal and won his case in the United States Supreme Court.) In December 1944, Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, acting on the advice of Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier, disapproved the allotting schedule set up by Wadsworth 17 years earlier. Conservatorship program Odlum Report In January 1953, Douglas McKay became Secretary of the Interior. After that McKay asked industrialist Floyd B. Odlum (former president of Atlas Corp. and husband of Jacqueline Cochran) to investigate the affairs of the Agua Caliente Indians. The report by Odlum's committee was completed in April 1955 and put into final form in April 1956. Among other things, Odlum's report determined: that the Band consisted of 83 persons,